Wallingford Art Walk gets a mascot

As soon as the clouds broke on Tuesday afternoon, artists Maggie Schneider and Siolo Thompson made a beeline to their latest project, a new mural for the Wallingford Art Walk. The mural, which is located on the side of the building that houses Bottleworks and City Cellars, features a 20′ tall robot, in mid-stride, amid a soon-to-be colorful backdrop. He’ll be leaving a wake of flowers in his path when the mural’s done, just in time for the May 4 Art Walk.

I found Maggie and Siolo sandwiched in between the wall and a temporary chain-link fence, separating them from the construction crew that’s working on the new Key Bank. “Actually, they’ve been really great,” Maggie says. “We don’t mind having this fence here at all.”

Back in October, Art Walk Chair Tara Shuttleworth put out a call to artists to develop a mural, and Maggie and Siolo took the project and ran with it, after getting approval from building owner Frank Walters and the Wallingford Chamber of Commerce. All of the paint was donated by Wallingford’s Reed Painting Company.

“Our idea was to make something family-friendly and accessible to everyone,” Maggie said. “So far, we’ve gotten a great response from people, and kids really love the robot.”

We’ll post a picture of the mural once it’s complete, but you should come out and see it for yourself next Wednesday night, during the Art Walk.